


Tongue-Tied

by CometEclipse



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Jealousy, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 14:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10969365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CometEclipse/pseuds/CometEclipse
Summary: Cullen gets supremely jealous when the Grey Warden Alistair starts to flirt with Inquisitor Alleria... and finally says so.





	Tongue-Tied

**Author's Note:**

> This is my giveaway prize for Crashylove over on Tumblr for my 1,000 followers Giveaway!

Alistair was looking at her again, his eyes faintly glazed, his mouth slightly open. And, Cullen noticed with a surge, she had noticed. She kept looking at the mooning man, laughter lighting up her eyes, making them sparkle like pale blue diamonds. Her lush mouth would quirk into a small smile, and Alistair would light up, his eyes flaring wide. The man couldn’t be hearing a word of the briefing. Cullen tore his gaze away, staring at one of the dainty markers spread over the map. His teeth were glued together, a growl of frustration blocking his throat. If he picked up one of the little things, he was sure he would bend it in half.

It wasn’t his place to feel this possessive. Alleria was her own woman who had no romantic ties. If Alistair wanted to flirt with her, and if she wanted to flirt back, he couldn’t say anything. And it was his own damn fault for that.

He briefly closed his eyes, remembered the way she had strode into his tower, powerful and confident and he had just… listened to her. Yes, it was his own stupid, idiotic fault that he was feeling like this.

“I know we need to find the source of it, but it is too early still. We have too many leads pointing in too many directions,” Leliana’s voice pulled him back from the chaotic hell Cullen had slipped into. He looked up to see Alleria’s familiar look of concentration, and a quick glance showed a burgeoning smile on Alistair’s face. Damn, what had he missed?

“How much longer do you think we will need, for some concrete proof of where to go?” Alleria asked, starlight eyes tracing over the maps and brushing back a lock of her glossy red hair behind her pointed ear. What were they discussing and why did Alistair look so pleased at the prospect?

Leliana shrugged, “I could get word at any minute. The weather is proving a hindrance, but shouldn’t do more than delay word by a more than a few hours. I have spies in several places, and Scout Harding should be sending her report of the Western Approach any day now. Until we get that confirmation, though, it would be foolish to send Alistair anywhere.”

Cullen’s voice was low, “So he will be staying for a few more days.”

Leliana cut him a glance, “He will be staying until it is prudent to send him.”

Alistair smiled widely around the table, Cullen included in his obvious pleasure. “I am glad that I will get to spend more time at Skyhold. The castle is far more comfort than the road or my cave in Crestwood. In fact,” the bastard turned and smiled broadly at Alleria, “Everything about Skyhold far exceeds my expectations.”

Cullen’s hands curled into fists.

Alleria smiled back at Alistair, beautiful and resplendent. “Well then,” she teased lightly, “it is good you are able to spend more time here.”

Anger and frustration… jealousy, welled hard. He was jealous of Alleria’s flirtation with Alistair. And angry with himself. So angry. He had once been given the chance, and he had just let it sit there between them, barely acknowledged, stupidly left hanging. She had moved on, and he couldn’t blame her.

It had been after a night at the tavern. They had all been there, relaxing, drinking. Having a good time. Or at least he had been trying to. The intention had been there on his part, but he hadn’t been able to look at Alleria without wondering about her. After just one ale he had left, giving an excuse to the small group around him. As he had slipped out the door, he looked back to see Alleria laughing with Blackwall. And he had thought… well, he had thought that they were a couple. Discreetly, of course, no one else ever even mentioned them together. But Cullen was always so aware of everything she did.

So he retreated, forcing himself to stare at papers and illegible scrawls instead of the Inquisitor.

After only a short time, Alleria walked through his door. Her shoulders were back, her stride confident and long. “Inquisitor,” Cullen started, surprised as she turned and closed the door behind her.

“Cullen,” She strode to just before his desk, “I wanted to speak to you.” Her usual poise seemed to ripple, a glimpse at the emotions beneath, a hidden glimpse of the woman. His attention narrowed, sharpened on her. Alleria licked her lips, color blooming in her cheeks, and she uncharacteristically shifted from foot to foot.

Confused but intrigued, Cullen made an encouraging noise, fascinated by the spread of color beneath her pale blue vallaslin. “What I wanted to say is… Cullen. I care for you and,” She licked her lips before she continued, but her eyes never left his face. “I thought that you might care for me to.”

She cared for him. He could feel himself staring, unable to process what she was saying. She cared for him? “I thought… you and Blackwall…” his sentences incomplete and trailing.

“No,” she took a step forward, her eyebrows creased down, “Blackwall and I are just friends. There isn’t anything between us.”

“I see.” He said. He had been wrong, she and Blackwall weren’t together. She said she cared for him, not someone else.

She had seen through his façade, seen what he had tried to hide from her and everyone else. Of course he cared for her. He didn’t see how anyone could not; Andraste had chosen perfectly. And somehow here she was, telling him that he wasn’t the fool he had thought he had been. That she reciprocated his feelings.

He stood silent, scrambling to thing straight, to speak to her. Tell her what he felt; yet nothing came to mind. He saw her watching him closely, almost through a haze. Saw her brows draw together as he gaped. “I see,” he managed to say again.

He saw the hope leave her face, the corners of her lips flatten, the pretty pink slowly leave her cheeks. She shifted again before straightening shoulders she had dropped. Her eyes slid back to his, no longer sparkling, starker than he had seen ever directed at him before. “I needed to tell you. Thank you for listening,” was all she said.

And then she had turned and left him, and he had let her. And they had never spoken of it since.

Weeks passed, and that blighted Alistair had come to Skyhold, and slowly Alleria started to respond to his flirtations. She was moving past her… care for him. She was once again bright, smiling more frequently and lingering longer. Cullen wanted her to be happy, wanted to see her smile more, lift some of the weight off her shoulders.

He just wanted for her to smile at him that way.

Josephine’s voice snapped him from the cursed memory, “I believe that is everything for today.” The meeting was over, everyone headed towards the heavy door. He had missed the ending.

Alistair opened the door for Alleria, smiling broadly at her. That heat in his chest, tightness in his throat, rose again, and before he knew it, Cullen was calling out, “Alleria, a word in private please?”

She halted, her lush smile smoothing into one of feigned interest as she looked at him. He grit his teeth at the change, upset that she no longer smiled at him with any warmth. “Of course.” She came back into the room as everyone else left. Alistair’s disappointed face was the last thing he saw as the door shut behind her. Jealousy boiled, and he just bit back the snarl that threatened to erupt.

“Yes?” She asked, her palms coming up to rest gently against the table that separated them. Calm and collected while his chest was a writhing mess.

Cullen’s voice was low and taut. “I think it is a mistake, keeping the Grey Warden here.” He couldn’t say the man’s name just then, could barely keep himself from spitting it out as a curse. “He should be out looking for the other Wardens, instead of wasting his time hanging around Skyhold.”

Alleria frowned and shook her head, “You heard Leliana; we should be hearing back from her scouts any time now.”

“But he could be a scout as well.”

“Cullen,” she shook her head, exasperation coming into her tone, “if he goes in the opposite direction of where we need to go, it will only add more time to everything. Time that we don’t have to spare, as you well know!”

Yes, he did know that! He growled and pushed away from the table, turning to stare out one of the windows. The magnificent view of snowcapped peaks and thickly falling flakes was completely unseen; just the picture of Alleria and Alistair smiling at each other. Jealousy bit at him hard; it wouldn’t be long now before Alistair said something to her. Cullen ground his teeth together, trying not to imagine how perfectly the Grey Warden would manage to tell her how wonderful she was, how beautiful and compassionate. Couldn’t help but compare the speech to his own bumbling and utter failure. “He has to go.”

There was a pause, and then Alleria sighed, “Cullen, what is really going on here? Why are you so insistent that he leave?”

Cullen once again couldn’t say anything, that vision of her smile fading to a disguise as she looked at him. Maker, he was doing this all wrong. He was messing this all up once again, and she was going to hate him.

He could tolerate her coolness, but her hate?

“Cullen?” Light elven footsteps barely registered in the room, and she came closer to him. “What is going on? Do you know something?” Words backed up in his throat, unworthy and terrible things that he refused to let out. Alleria halted somewhere behind him. “Is Alistair… dangerous?” A hint of fear crept into her voice, and it broke him.

“Maker, no!” He whirled, startled to find Alleria just a few feet away. She jerked back in surprise, and Cullen reacted instinctively, grasping her upper arms and holding her steady. And once his palms registered the warmth of her skin, his fingers refused to release. “No, he just…” His jaw worked, and he stared into the wide confusion of her eyes. “He’s infatuated with you!”

Her eyes flew wide. The fire of his jealousy transformed into heat that shot into his cheeks, and he looked away, embarrassment and shame making him wish he could sink into the floor. But he didn’t release her, and it seemed once he started, the words were going to pour from him. “He is half in love with you already, smiling at you and flirting every chance he gets. If he stays any longer he is going to fall completely in love with you. And you… you will flirt back with him more, and I will have to watch the two of you, knowing that I am the biggest idiot in Thedas. Knowing that you no longer care for me because of my own inability to say anything.”

Heavy silence descended after his ringing words. Alleria was rigid beneath his fingers, her strength locked tight. Unspeaking.

Well, that was it then, he had frightened her. His nerveless fingers let her go and dropped away. “Forgive me,” he murmured.

“Wait,” Alleria’s hand flew up to grab at his arms, their positions reversing as she held him in place. He finally looked at her, unable to hide the emptiness filling his chest. Hollow.

She was searching his face intently, “Cullen… are you jealous?”

She sounded incredulous, as if such a thing were impossible. He quickly set about to dissuade her of that notion. “Of course I am! He flirted with you so openly, and you seemed to like him. I know I lost all right to be jealous when I froze after you told me… but I can’t stop...”

His voice left him as the most amazing transformation he had seen started to bloom in Alleria. Starlight crept back into her eyes and her open lips curved, bowing into an incandescent smile. A short little laugh escaped her, and her firm grip on his wrists gentled, fingers turning into a caress as she took a step closer. “Cullen,” smiling, fond, exasperation warmed her voice. “Is that what happened? You froze?” She came just a little closer, a hair’s breadth separating them. “You weren’t rejecting me?”

“No,” he breathed, still transfixed, frozen in a different way. But this time, he was able to speak what was in his heart. “Maker, no. I could never reject you.” Tentatively, giving her time to stop him, he turned his hands, threading his fingers with hers. Palm to palm. “You were right; I cared for you. Still care for you. For far longer than I should admit.”

Alleria shook her head, that beautiful smile still alight. “That is the most wonderful thing you have ever said. Trying to get over you has been impossible.” Alleria’s hands tightened, reassuring and so very present.

“Do you, do you still care?” he asked lowly, scarce noticing his heart thundering, his breath stopping.

“Yes,” Alleria breathed, “I tried not to, but I still care. I have for a long time too.” She licked her lips and he latched onto it, a rush of heat scorching his bones and sharpening his focus.

Alleria noticed, tilting her head back as Cullen slowly lowered his head. He levered his eyes to hers, making sure she wouldn’t protest. All he saw though, was the same alighted eagerness fuzzing through him. And so he softly covered her lips with his own.

Soft lips molded beneath his, Alleria instantly kissing him back slowly, reverently. Shivers broke over his skin at the friction, an ache catching in his throat. How had he let them miss out on weeks of this?

Her calloused hands slipped from his, her arms coming up and wrapping around his neck and she took that last step into his body. Cullen groaned, deepening the kiss, her acceptance firing the amazed wonder into passion. He swept his tongue inside, tasting her. Sweet, from the fruit juice at breakfast, immensely edible and a unique taste of her. Alleria.

His hands moved over her back, feeling the strength in her body, the way she was arching into him. Her fingers feathered over the back of his neck, toying with his hair. Her long legs pressed against his, her hips dangerously cradling his own. Soft despite her muscles, hot and threatening to spike his temperature to boiling. He desperately wished for his armor to disappear, to fully feel her body against his, but he forced himself to break away from her kiss. Alleria mewled, her eyes closed as she strained to capture his lips again. He teetered, so tempted to dive back in, but he needed to say one more thing.

“I’m sorry,” his voice was low and intimate, loath to break the magic that hung in the room. Alleria’s eyes slowly opened, looking up at him. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything that night.” He tightened his arms, worried she would break away. “I’m sorry for acting like a jealous ass over Alistair.”

He tensed, waiting for her response. It would serve him right if she rang a peal over his head. Instead she surprised him. That broad, bright smile reappeared, and her hands smoothed around to cup his jaw. She stood up on her tiptoes to drop a quick kiss on his chin. “I am glad you were jealous. We may never have gotten here at the rate we were going.” She tilted her head to the side, her waves of gloriously red hair sliding across his arm. “And I forgive you. I am sorry as well, springing such a confession on you. It must have been a great shock.”

A tender, gentle smile spread over his face, and he lowered his head to speak against her mouth, “I was surprised. I thought I was hearing things, and I just couldn’t believe you had said that to me. At least this time my mouth worked for me instead of against me.”

Alleria laughed, husky and seductive, sending a thrill down his spine. “Yes, I think your mouth is especially working well for you today.”

His smile curled, became a trifle wicked. “My absolute pleasure.” And then his mouth and hers were occupied for quite some time.


End file.
